captainsolo said:

There was a Batman before the graphic novel people.

Huh? Do you mean newpaper comic strips?

twooffour said:
comic book Batman IS Batman. That is where the character came from. Everything else is based on that.

So what? There are so many different Batmans in the Original Batman Comics from what I hear, it doesn't matter.

This is true. Just like Superman, there are so many versions of the character in "the books" that when they make new ones for TV/movies it's hard to make the complaint that they're "not like the books".

twister quoted Bob Kane:

Without the Adam West TV show, the books probably would have been cancelled.

That might have been preferable. I think the damage that show did to the West's perception of "comic book" or "graphic novel" is still being overcome.

Frink:

Beats me, I don't like [Nolan/Bale's Batman movies]. But my guess is people like them despite Bale, or at least despite his Batman.

That's not true for me. I think his Batman works in the world as presented. I already said that TAS is my favourite interpretation of the character and I will be the first to admit that Bale's Batman is very much the opposite of Conroy's... Just like the Batmobile is very different as well... But it's a different style, a different Gotham. I think Conroy's Batman would be out of place in Nolan's movie and I think Bale's Batman fits it perfectly.